Y3c Warren Allen Jones

Warren Allen Jones had finished his four-year Navy enlistment in the fall of 1941, but he was kept on the U.S.S. Arizona because of the possibility of war. He was killed on Dec. 7, 1941 in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a yeoman and petty officer third class on the flag staff of Rear Admiral Issac C. “Cap” Kidd, commander of BatDiv I of which the Arizona was the flagship. The two other battleships in the division were the Pennyslvania and the Nevada.

Mr. Jones was born Oct. 27, 1917 in Edgar in south-central Nebraska to Dr. Robert and Martha Jones. He graduated in 1936 from Kearney High School about 70 miles to the west northwest and enlisted in the Navy in 1937.

Kearney High students planted three hackberry trees and installed plaques on the school grounds in 1942 in memory of Mr. Jones and two other local men killed in the opening days of the war. One of them, Neal Jason Radford, was also on the Arizona.

Mr. Jones was survived by his widow, Helen, and a seven-month-old son, Bobby.

Dr. Robert Jones was an Army captain during World War I.

Sources: The Kearney (Nebraska) Hub; the Lincoln (Nebraska) Star; Census; Defense Department. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.